


This is Home

by Chrysaoraachlyos



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Background ConHank, Elijah Kamski & Gavin Reed are Siblings, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Good Friend Tina Chen, M/M, Mutual Pining, Non-Deviant Nines, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, This is the first fanfic I've been brave enough to post since my fearless junior high days, Tina Chen & Gavin Reed Friendship, please go easy on me, reed900
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-12
Updated: 2020-04-25
Packaged: 2021-03-02 05:08:20
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,724
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23609662
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chrysaoraachlyos/pseuds/Chrysaoraachlyos
Summary: Gavin needs a date to his cousin's wedding, and RK900 is convenient. We all know how fake dating AUs go. WIP
Relationships: Original Chloe | RT600/Elijah Kamski, Upgraded Connor | RK900/Gavin Reed
Comments: 15
Kudos: 49





	1. RK900

**Author's Note:**

> ~2780 words, Nines' POV

Detective Reed had been more irritable than usual lately. He was snapping at people more, and had even gone so far as to refuse the coffee I’d brought him twice that week. He never refused coffee. I lacked the social protocols to know how to ask without setting him off, so I left it alone, but it had slowed his work pace by forty-two percent for several days now.

“Damn, Reed, what’s got your panties in a twist?” Officer Chen jeered from her desk. She was the only one brave enough to talk to him while he was like this, and I was grateful for her even if she did distract him from his work too often.

“My damn parents are harassing me about my cousin’s wedding,” Detective Reed growled. “Won’t shut up about it. They insist I need a date.”

Officer Chen snorted. “I’ll be your date.”

“Nah, they won’t fall for that shit again, they know I’m gay now.” He groaned, pressing his fists into his eyes. “Fuck.”

“Detective, this may be a conversation better had outside of work hours,” I stated. “Your remaining paperwork will take you approximately forty minutes to complete, and you are only scheduled to be here for another thirty-six minutes and eleven seconds.”

He rolled his eyes. “Nobody asked you, toaster.”

“We’re off at the same time tonight, we can talk later,” Officer Chen said. She got back to her own paperwork, and with a bit of grumbling Detective Reed did as well.

Detective Reed finished his work in just over my forty-minute estimate. He grabbed his jacket, phone and keys, and waited for Officer Chen to finish up as well.

“Let’s bring Nines today,” Officer Chen suggested. “Maybe his android knowledge can help us brainstorm.”

“What could it possibly know about weddings, Ti?”

“I dunno, but he could be helpful.”

Detective Reed sighed. “Whatever. Hurry up, toaster.”

Much like Detective Reed, I was uncertain there was anything of importance I could add to their discussion, but I had my orders. I followed on their heels silently.

I felt Connor ping me over a private link.

 ** _Everything alright, RK900?_** Connor asked as I left.

 ** _Detective Reed and Officer Chen have requested I accompany them tonight,_** I replied. **_Out of the ordinary, but not an issue._**

 ** _I see. I’ll see you tomorrow. Have a good night,_** Connor said before terminating our link.

I folded my long limbs into the cramped back seat of the detective’s old manual drive beater. Officer Chen already had her feet up on the dash, and she was talking about one thing or another. The detective’s apartment wasn’t too far from the station. It was a short drive, even with them stopping to pick up takeout on the way. I frowned at their choice of greasy burgers and fries, but Detective Reed had ordered me before not to comment on his diet.

The apartment was small, cluttered but not messy. The couch and armchair were old and worn, the coffee table stacked with fitness magazines. There were a few cat toys scattered around the floor, accompanied by a fluffy mass of white fur that seemed to permeate every inch of the place. The cat meowed at Detective Reed loudly as the three of us entered, blinking her big blue eyes.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m getting there,” Detective Reed said. He nudged her aside with his foot. She mewed indignantly, rolling over as though mortally wounded. My scans indicated that she was unharmed. “You’re fine, drama queen.”

He put food in her dish, which she snarfed down far too quickly to be healthy. Officer Chen made her way down the hall, vanishing into one of the rooms. She returned shortly with her hair cascading over her shoulders and wearing pajamas printed with strawberries. I hadn’t realized she lived here as well.

She frowned at me still standing in the doorway.

“Take off your shoes and coat,” she said. “You can come sit with us. Make yourself comfortable.”

“It’s a machine, Ti,” Detective Reed said, rolling his eyes. He dropped himself heavily on the couch.

I did as I was told. I toed off my shoes, tucking them neatly onto the shoe rack by the door, and hung my coat on one of the hooks above the rack. I had never taken either of them off before. It was an odd sensation to be without the familiar weight of my jacket, and to be able to sense so much on my feet. I settled onto the armchair. My posture was perfect, my hands folded into my lap. Sitting was also an odd sensation.

Officer Chen laid her head down on Detective Reed’s lap.

“So, who do you got?” She asked. “I’m out because you need a dude, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Okay, any guy friends you could ask to fake it for a night?”

“You and I both know all my friends are work friends.”

“You could try asking Chris,” she suggested. “He’d probably do it.”

“He’s way too straight. And he has a wife.”

“Your parents don’t need to know that,” she said.

“His kid is all he talks about lately. I love the little squirt, but my parents know I don’t have one. It’ll fall apart way too quickly.”

“Okay, what’s you Grindr look like?”

He shot her a look. “I’m not taking a Grindr hookup to my cousin’s wedding,” He said.

“You’re making this way harder than it needs to be,” she complained, pushing her lips into a pout. “Okay, we still have two weeks to figure something out for that, right? Leave it alone for now, we’ll figure something out. What are you going to wear?”

“I was just going to wear my black suit.”

“ _Black?_ ” Her voice was incredibly distressed as she shot up into a sitting position. “Gav, this is a midday spring wedding, you can’t wear black! It’s too dark and heavy and depressing!”

“Does it really matter that much?” He asked.

“Yes! You’re hopeless.” She hopped up off the couch, making a beeline for his room. “Nines, come give me a hand.”

I followed her into the detective’s bedroom, taking in the unmade bed and the laundry on the floor. There was an acoustic guitar in the corner. A couple of small weights by the foot of the bed. I catalogued the details in my file on Detective Reed, and turned my attention to the closet where Officer Chen was rifling through his clothes. She tossed all of his suits, ties, blazers, and nice button-ups onto the bed.

While she was busy sifting through his things, I analysed several online articles about menswear for wedding guests. As she said before, a dark heavy suit like his black one was more appropriate for a fall or winter wedding. Based on my findings, the lighter grey suit would be a better choice. As I made the bed and tidied up his choices, I found myself placing an ice blue tie on top of the grey suit, along with a pale pink pocket square and silver cuff links. Officer Chen glanced at my selection.

“That looks nice. Matches your eyes,” she said. Then she paused, like something had clicked in her mind. “Gav, I have an answer to your problem!”

Detective Reed appeared in the doorway, leaning against the doorframe with crossed arms. “And what is that?”

“Take Nines.”

“What? There’s no way I can show up with a toaster,” he protested adamantly. “My parents wouldn’t buy it for a second.”

“They don’t have to know he’s an android,” Officer Chen said, putting her hand on her cocked hip. “He isn’t a common model, and he’s cute.”

“It’s got that thing on its face,” Detective Reed insisted. “If that’s not a dead giveaway, I don’t know what is.”

“Deviants take them out all the time. I’m sure his could come off too. Do you even have another option? I’m all ears if you do.”

He stewed in the comment for a long moment. “I… guess not. But how would I even make them buy it? It’s not like it’s got a personality. Even Connor had more when he first showed up.”

“Well first off, call him he, not ‘it’,” Officer Chen suggested. “That’d be the biggest giveaway. And he’s got learning software, right? I’m sure we could teach him a few things.”

“I do have a learning program,” I interjected. “I can be taught new skills, though it would be more efficient to download the proper protocols from the relevant Cyberlife databases or other androids.”

“There, see?” She said. “We’ve got two weeks to teach him enough to scrape by as a human date.”

I felt my LED spiralling yellow for a moment. “This is not part of my regular function.”

“Good luck with that, Ti.”

Detective Reed wandered back out to the living room. She rolled her eyes and chased after him. I wasn’t ordered to follow them, and there wasn’t a reason to. I busied myself putting away the clothes on the bed. I kept the tie and pocket square with the suit, and realized there was a darker grey vest underneath the suit jacket while I was tucking the tie into the hanger. It was nice. He would look handsome in it.

I deleted the unnecessary comment and the related preconstruction of him wearing it from my logs. I hung up all of the clothes that Officer Chen had taken out, and put the ones on the floor into the empty laundry bin. With his room a bit less of a chaotic mess, I was satisfied enough to return to the living room for new orders.

The two of them were sitting on the couch watching something on the TV. The cat was sitting on the floor, her tail swishing back and forth as she stared at me. I stared back. Eventually, my curiosity got the better of me. I crouched down and picked her up. She immediately hissed and clawed my cheek. I let out a startled sound. I released her, and she sprung out of my hands to go hide somewhere.

“You better not be harassing my cat, toaster.” Detective Reed glanced back at me over his shoulder. He tsked seeing thirium dribbling down my cheek. “She actually got you? Aren’t you supposed to be a super soldier?”

“I am unfamiliar with animal behaviours. I did not anticipate her reaction properly,” I said.

“Paper towel is by the sink. Try not to get any of that blue shit on anything.”

Officer Chen swatted his shoulder. “Be nice, that’s your boyfriend, act like it.”

“Fake boyfriend.”

“Gotta make it real enough to fool your parents,” she pointed out. “Get used to it now so you don’t slip up in front of them.”

I ignored their comments, moving into the kitchen to find the paper towel. I wiped the thirium off of my cheek, and felt my nanites beginning to repair the shallow cuts. The marks would be gone in a day or two at most, and the thirium had already stopped flowing.

“Sarge, ps ps ps,” Detective Reed said.

The cat’s bell jingled merrily as she got a running start to jump up on the couch and into his lap.

“You gave your cat the rank of Sergeant?” I asked.

Officer Chen laughed. “Her name is Sergeant-Princess Glitter.”

“Why would she be both a Sergeant and a princess? I also believe Princess would come first, as the superior rank.”

Detective Reed shook his head in exasperation. “Fuck if I know. That was her name when I got her, she’s a rescue.”

She stared at me from his lap, pupils narrowed to slits.

“If you have no further need of me this evening, Detective Reed, I will be going into stasis,” I said.

“Call him Gavin. Or Gav,” Officer Chen said. “You wouldn’t call your boyfriend by a title. It sounds stuffy and like you two aren’t really close.”

“That would be an accurate description of our relationship, Officer Chen, but I will update my settings.”

She wrinkled her nose. “Just call me Tina. Any boyfriend of Gavin’s is a friend of mine.”

I updated their preferences. Gavin scowled at Tina, but didn’t protest. I supposed it was to his benefit to just let it happen. I tucked myself into a corner out of the way, and put myself into stasis.

-

We got to work fifteen minutes early the following morning, which gave me ample time to make Gavin his morning coffee while he was booting up his work terminal. I selected the mug he seemed to prefer to use when it was available, a hunter green one with a white outline of a cactus on it. I made his coffee and added the appropriate amount of cream. He didn’t like sugar in his coffee. I set it on the corner of his desk.

He accepted it readily. He was more mellowed out than he had been all week, and it was an improvement that would likely be appreciated by his coworkers. I hadn’t realized a small social event had been causing him so much stress. I would have to be on the lookout for such problems in the future.

Tina pushed a chair at me, insisting I sit.

“I have no need for a chair. Androids do not get tired,” I stated. “It would be best to save it for a human who actually needs it.”

“Sitting is a human thing, she said. “You need to learn a few small human things so you can help Gavin out, right?”

I sat down in the chair. She handed me my work tablet.

“Try to slouch a little, okay? Most humans don’t sit with perfect posture like that.”

I compressed my chassis a bit, hunching my shoulders. Tina let out an amused huff, grinning to herself.

“You look so awkward. Keep practicing, alright? Try looking up drawing references or stock images of people sitting, and imitate those.”

I did as she asked, though I didn’t really see the purpose of it. Straight posture was meant to be the proper position for humans to sit in. I left those functions running on a spare processor while I focused on reports.

Connor gave me a strange look when he and the lieutenant entered the bullpen nearly an hour later. Something clicked in his eyes, and his face lit up. He opened a remote connection.

 ** _Have you deviated? What happened?_** I felt him poking around in my systems, and the red wall popped up quickly. I felt his confusion seeping in, the crawling feeling of his deviancy wiggling under my skin.

 ** _Gavin requires a date for a human social gathering. Tina suggested me, but Gavin’s parents cannot know that I am an android. They are attempting to teach me human gestures,_** I explained.

Connor took a long moment to process that in silence, mulling over his words carefully. **_Do you want to accompany him?_**

 ** _Machines cannot want things,_** I replied. **_For the time being, it has lowered his stress levels and increased his productivity at work. I will accompany him if he will deem it beneficial._**

Connor didn’t seem to like that answer. He was frowning as he settled into his seat. **_I see. Take care of yourself, Nines._**

His movements were human, if a little stiff. Far more human than my own, at the very least. He had many social programs I didn’t. I poked around in his systems, but downloading programs like that would require a direct interface. I wandered over and Connor extended a hand as I approached, already expecting the request. We interfaced quickly. I made an attempt to install the relevant protocols. An error message popped up in my HUD. I dismissed it and tried again. The error message popped up once again. Connor made an attempt to copy it for me, but also received an error. He frowned.

I felt him delve into my error logs to trace the problem. He was roadblocked almost immediately by the red wall firmly held in place by massive amounts of programming.

 ** _It appears your anti-deviancy firewalls won’t allow you to download corrupted data, or specific social programs,_** Connor said. **_You won’t be able to download any protocols from me unless you overrode the firewalls on your own. You’d have to deviate._**

Ironic, that in order to install programs shown to increase chances of deviancy, I’d have to deviate first. A problem for another time. I had spent long enough on this, and my program was urging me to get back to work.

 ** _Sorry, Nines,_** Connor said.

I severed our connection, and returned to my reports.


	2. Gavin

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long! I got slammed with homework and finals. Also it was short and I didn't want to post it until I had the next chapter written, but the next chapter is being difficult so I guess I'll have to wait on that one a little bit.
> 
> ~1950 Words, Gavin's POV

I didn’t know how I’d let Tina talk me into something as dumb as pretending the toaster was my boyfriend, like it was any less sad and embarrassing than showing up to my cousin’s wedding alone. But I was more than a little trapped. I’d never hear the end of it if I showed up alone after my parents had insisted I bring someone. Anyone I had even a shred of a relationship with. A wedding wasn’t the kind of event you took a one-night Grindr hookup to, and they already knew Tina and I would never be more than friends. So this was the situation I’d ended up in.

The toaster came home with us again. Sarge greeted me at the door, like always. Her fur puffed all the way up after one look at the toaster behind me, and I snorted.

“Me too, Sarge.”

Nines gave Sarge a wide berth, obviously not in a hurry to get scratched again. It just waited by the door until Tina told it to get comfortable again. It removed its jacket and shoes, tucking them away neatly, and waited for me to give it something to do. I didn’t bother. I fed Sarge and flopped onto the couch. Tina tossed herself on top of me like a ragdoll.

“So, what are we teaching your new boyfriend today?” She asked. “Better get started.”

“Pretty sure you volunteered to do it when you decided that’s what we’re doing,” I replied. “Have fun.”

“Come on, Gav.” She rolled over, tipping her head back to look up at me obnoxiously and squishing me against the arm of the couch. “Play nice, maybe he’ll come out of his shell.”

I just turned on the TV to the e-sports channel. She scowled and flicked my cheek, before rolling up to her feet to go entertain the toaster. She could try all she wanted, but sixteen days was not enough time to find the tin man a heart. Or an even remotely believable copy. At least the other one had some acting skills programmed into him from the start.

I shook my head at Tina’s naivety. She was smarter than that.

I eventually dragged myself off the couch to make dinner. Nothing fancy, just rice and vegetables, but it was better than skipping dinner and being lazy. Once everything was cut up and tossed into the rice cooker, I went to find Tina. She was in her room with the toaster, both of them cross-legged on her bed like they were having a sleepover gossip session. I hung out next to the doorway to her room, listening to her attempt to teach it conversational skills. It was going about as well as I’d expected it to.

“-must have some kind of hobby,” Tina said. “What do you do when Gavin isn’t around?”

“I finish submitting reports and go into stasis,” Nines responded flatly. “There is no reason for me to be operational when I am not needed.”

Tina sighed.

“Workaholic. I guess I knew that.” She frowned at him. “What’s it like? Stasis. Do androids have dreams? Is it just a gap in time? Do you have to go into stasis, or could you just do whatever you want all the time without sleeping?”

“Androids are somewhat aware during stasis in the case of emergencies, however our processors are less sensitive and less data input is recorded,” Nines said. “It is a time to sort internal files and run any updates or system diagnostics required. It is a lot of idle time, and most of it is deleted to save internal storage space. An android can function for a few weeks without stasis, before junk data and missed discrepancies begin to cause errors that are difficult to fix and could result in shutdown without proper maintenance.”

It really just stood around waiting after I left? I had never really thought about it much, but I assumed it either did random stuff or shut down completely overnight. The thought kind of creeped me out, when I thought about the number of androids we used to have in stasis watching the bullpen all the time.

“That sounds… sad,” Tina said.

Nines’ LED flickered yellow for a split-second, before returning to the usual placid blue. “I have upset you.”

It didn’t offer any kind of apology, but there was no question in its tone. It was a statement of something it didn’t know what to do with.

“I will not mention stasis again,” it concluded.

“That’s not…” Tina trailed off.

I heard the rice cooker beep, and I knocked on the open door. The two of them glanced back at me. “Dinner, Ti.”

“Kay,” she chimed.

She joined me at the table, and coaxed the toaster into sitting with us too. We ate a bit in blissful silence before Tina was back on her bullshit.

“Nines, why don’t you tell Gavin some things about yourself?” Tina suggested.

It stared at her flatly for a beat, before turning its piercing gaze on me. “I am an RK900 model, built for military applications. My features include – “

“No,” she interrupted. “Not things like that. Things about you. Personal things.”

It tilted its head slightly, a puppy-like gesture that didn’t really suit the imposing piece of plastic making it. “Machines don’t have personal things to share.”

Tina groaned in frustration.

“I told you, can’t teach the tin man people things, Ti,” I said through a mouthful of food. “It’s not gonna work. Might as well help me find a real date instead of wasting your energy on this thing.”

Tina scowled. “It’s only been, what, an hour or two? It’ll work, I know it will. You just have to quit being an ass and help.” She stabbed her food to punctuate her words. “Why don’t you try telling him some things about you, so he knows what kind of things to share?”

“Like what?”

“I don’t know, something about you he doesn’t know yet,” Tina said. “Just try it.”

I rolled my eyes, stuffing more rice in my mouth while I thought.

“My favourite colour is orange.”

Tina groaned again. “Your favourite colour? That’s so basic! Something important.”

“What, you want me to pour my heart out to a computer?”

Tina just gave me a look.

“Fine, whatever,” I growled, trying to think of something else. “I… fuck, I don’t know. You do it.”

“I’m not the one he needs to know about, am I?” She pointed out. “But fine. I can speak three languages, and I spent the first fifteen years of my life wanting to be a professional ballerina.”

Nines’ LED swirled, but it didn’t change colour. “I have updated your file. Which languages do you speak?”

Tina beamed. “You asked a follow-up question, that’s great! That’s a really good way to show people that you’re listening to them, and you’re interested in keeping the conversation going.”

She was way more excited than she needed to be. It was a question. Just more details for the creepy files it had on all of us.

“Ah, the languages. I speak English, Spanish, and ASL,” Tina said. “Well, you don’t really speak ASL, but you know what I mean.”

She turned to me. “Your turn. For real this time.”

“I think this is a dumb game, and I also know ASL,” I said.

“Why did you learn ASL?” Nines asked.

“Does it matter?”

“Learning a new language is a lot of time and work, and many humans won’t commit to doing it without a reason. It may lend me some insight.”

“I learned it with my brother when we were kids,” I snapped.

It blinked. God, it was creepy when it stared like that.

“I was not aware you had a brother.”

“He changed his name and ran away. Drop it.”

Its LED shifted to yellow for a few spins, and it fell silent. I got up and washed the dishes before going to my room alone. I may have slammed the door a little harder than necessary.

“Sorry about that,” I heard Tina say. “His brother is a bit of a sore subject. I should have warned you.”

“I see. I will not bring it up again.”

I turned off the lights, buried my head under my pillow so I didn’t have to listen to them talk anymore, and went to sleep early.

-

Tina was up bright and early the next morning. Which of course meant I was too, with her crashing around in the cupboards for something easy to eat for breakfast. I rolled out of bed and pulled on a pair of sweatpants. The morning light made my eyes sting.

I yawned loudly, stretching my arms out as I dragged myself into the kitchen. I slumped heavily in one of the chairs at the kitchen table.

“Ti, it’s like eight o’ clock,” I grumbled. “On a Saturday. Go back to bed.”

“Can’t, I’m already awake,” she said.

The crashing noises of the shit in the cupboard was a lot when I just woke up.

“Ugh, gimme like, ten minutes to actually wake up and I’ll cook something,” I said. “Just stop for now.”

She stopped, closing the cupboard door. “Okay,” she hummed.

“You fed Sarge yet?” I asked.

“I’ll do it now.”

I could smell the coffeemaker going already. There was a mug of it in front of me as soon as the machine beeped, and I grunted in thanks. I waited for mine to cool off. Tina, the heathen she was, leaned against the kitchen counter sipping scalding hot, straight black coffee from a dainty floral teacup. I blew on my own coffee until it was cool enough to drink. My eyes wandered and I zoned out a little, until my gaze fell on the toaster. It was just standing there, in the corner by the door, perfectly still with ramrod straight posture. Its eyes were thankfully closed. I couldn’t see its LED from this angle, but the light reflected on the wall next to it was a serene blue.

“What?” Tina asked.

“What?”

“You’re making a face.”

I scowled at her. “Nothing. It’s just… creepy. Having it there. Knowing it’s listening.”

Tina rolled her eyes. “He’s fine. He said he doesn’t record while he’s sleeping, right?”

“It can still hear us. It’s creepy as hell.”

I downed the rest of my coffee, and shooed Tina out of the way so I could get a frying pan out of the cupboard she was leaning on. She only scooted far enough for me to half open the cupboard, and moved back when I had the pan.

“You could try being nice to him, Gav,” she said softly. “He is really trying This isn’t his job. He has no reason to do this other than helping you. But he hasn’t stopped me once, and I can tell he’s really trying to understand. Last month he wouldn’t even talk unless it was about a case. I think somewhere in there, he wants to be your friend.”

I ignored her. It probably thought I’d work better or something if it weaseled its way into my friends. I wasn’t falling for it.

She huffed at my lack of response. “Just think about it at least, okay?”

I grunted in response. Tina brushed past me and helped herself to another cup of coffee while I cut up a red pepper and some green onions for omelettes. She hummed quietly to herself. She drank two more cups of coffee before wandering over to Nines.

“Just leave it alone, Ti.”

“Him, Gav,” she reminded me, not tearing her eyes away from it while she poked its face.

**Author's Note:**

> Alright! Let me know what you thought, or if you want to see more of this! I am very slowly working on more, but I don't quite have a solid idea on how I'm getting from this to the important part yet!


End file.
